Question I'm confused about some aspects of Macrium Reflect backup software ?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

TheFlyingCelt

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2015
129
9
18,595
Oh, I forgot: on Windows 11 would you use Windows RE or PE for recovery media?
I had set RE but when I tried to perform a restore today to test the software, I was prompted to restore using PE (?!?)
Thanks
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
which one do you use?
Creating a new USB just now:
Mxbg5fW.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheFlyingCelt

TheFlyingCelt

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2015
129
9
18,595
You must have a lot of stuff and good reasons why to create an incremental every single day.

Keeping in mind mine is a home computer, eventually (for now) I decided to create a full backup every month retaining 6, and 2 incrementals a week, or it would take too much of storage. I have a 200GB SSD for OS and apps, a 2 TB HHD which works as a temporary place where to move in "to be sorted" files, a 4TB SSD with Backups and Videos, and a 2TB Nvme m2 for Music, Documents, Work files, Images.
Like you guys kindly suggested, I created a full backup which I'm keeping away from everything. Then I created another full backup which will be followed by 2 incr. backups a week like I wrote above. I unchecked the box "incremental" so that it won't delete any of them. No synthetic consolidation as I need to be able to get back to a specific point in time through incr. backups, and no differential backups set. I'm not sure if and how a differential would be good to have though :unsure:

I'm trying to insert a screenshot here but it won't accept the link from icecream...
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
You must have a lot of stuff and good reasons why to create an incremental every single day.

Keeping in mind mine is a home computer, eventually (for now) I decided to create a full backup every month retaining 6, and 2 incrementals a week, or it would take too much of storage. I have a 200GB SSD for OS and apps, a 2 TB HHD which works as a temporary place where to move in "to be sorted" files, a 4TB SSD with Backups and Videos, and a 2TB Nvme m2 for Music, Documents, Work files, Images.
Like you guys kindly suggested, I created a full backup which I'm keeping away from everything. Then I created another full backup which will be followed by 2 incr. backups a week like I wrote above. I unchecked the box "incremental" so that it won't delete any of them. No synthetic consolidation as I need to be able to get back to a specific point in time through incr. backups, and no differential backups set. I'm not sure if and how a differential would be good to have though :unsure:

I'm trying to insert a screenshot here but it won't accept the link from icecream...
Daily, because the total size of "30 days" of Incrementals is the same size whether it was every day, or twice a month.
And I have had to recover from "last night". If all I had was 2 weeks old, I'd be a bit POed.
 

TheFlyingCelt

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2015
129
9
18,595
Keeping in mind mine is a home computer for personal use and for freelance work, this is what I'm going to do for disk C: (Windows and apps): incremental every day with synthetic full, so that when a new incremental is created, the oldest incremental becomes part of the first full. This way I will be able to go back to a specific point in time within a range of time that I still may want to consider, without using too much storage.
Does that sound reasonable to you, guys?
There's no really need for periodical full backups or differentials, right? Am I missing something?
 
Keeping in mind mine is a home computer for personal use and for freelance work, this is what I'm going to do for disk C: (Windows and apps): incremental every day with synthetic full, so that when a new incremental is created, the oldest incremental becomes part of the first full. This way I will be able to go back to a specific point in time within a range of time that I still may want to consider, without using too much storage.
Does that sound reasonable to you, guys?
There's no really need for periodical full backups or differentials, right? Am I missing something?
That will probably be just fine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheFlyingCelt

TheFlyingCelt

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2015
129
9
18,595
The flash drive is completely independent of the OS on the system.
Does that mean that the OS option might get corrupted?
What if I use both options? Any drawback?

Forgive me if I take advantage of your time and kindness, but do you know the differences between the latest free version vs the pay version?

Thanks again for your help
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Does that mean that the OS option might get corrupted?
What if I use both options? Any drawback?

Forgive me if I take advantage of your time and kindness, but do you know the differences between the latest free version vs the pay version?

Thanks again for your help
No drawbacks to creating both.

The USB is good for when your existing Windows drive dies, and you need to recover an Image to a replacement drive.
Can't boot from a broken drive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheFlyingCelt

TheFlyingCelt

Distinguished
Jul 28, 2015
129
9
18,595
Actually, even if not registered before, they say it still works as long as you don't check the box to register it and press next.
What I was asking though is if you know the differences between that free version 8.0 and the most recent v8.1 pay version.